Yogyakarta, April 2nd 2024—The Ajisaka Festival 2024 was again successfully held on 23-24 March 2024. This annual competition for national students throughout Indonesia, organized by the Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol) UGM, raises environmental issues as a main theme. Were 392 participants recorded as members of 151 teams from 38 national universities.
Entering a decade, the 2024 UGM Ajisaka Festival has the theme “Samarthya Bhumi” which means the earth and its strength. In the last 10 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) report states that the earth’s temperature has experienced a significant increase in temperature of 1.02 degrees Celsius. Various experts also stated that this increase was caused by many factors, especially climate change. The trigger also comes from various human activities which tend to trap carbon gas in the atmosphere. The impact of rising earth temperatures also threatens the habitats of humans, animals and plants. This issue was deliberately raised to illustrate how the world of communication can become a medium for raising issues that society does not pay enough attention to.
“This is a form of criticism, yes. Communication science does not only discuss developments in technology, artificial intelligence, or media, but how these technological advances can bring issues that need attention in society. The hope is that young creative people who are young can contribute not only by speaking out but also by implementing it through action,” explained Tasya as Chief Executive of the 2024 UGM Ajisaka Festival.
As implemented in previous years, #1DekadeAjisaka consists of six competitions, namely Arjuna (Podcast), Nakula (Research), Sadewa (Skippable-Ads), Prahasta (Public Relations), Kresna (Documentary Film), and Dewi Sinta (Business Canvas Model). The Dewi Sinta competition is a new competition that is being presented specifically to commemorate #1Decade of Ajisaka. Registration has opened as of January 1, 2024, and five finalist teams were selected in each branch of the competition to compete directly at Fisipol UGM. After that, the three teams with the highest scores are entitled to receive appreciation in the form of winning prizes.
Uniquely, specifically for the Dewi Sinta competition, no team managed to get first place. “This has not been widely implemented in competitions at the student level. However, it is very common to find it in other national and international competitions, such as Citra Pariwara. We, the jury, decided that there were only second-place and third-place winners out of the five teams that managed to advance to the final. At the same time, this is our effort to increase standardization in holding national student competitions,” explained Syaifa Tania, SIP, MA, UGM Communication Science Lecturer who is also Dewi Sinta’s judge.
Not only holding competitions, the 2024 UGM Ajisaka Festival also holds a series of other events. Starting on December 1, 2023, the UGM Ajisaka Festival will hold a discussion and film screening entitled “Janamejaya: Nature Conservation, Empowering Youth Advocacy Through Digital Media Creation” with WatchDoc Indonesia. The Candradimuka series is also complemented by the presence of the “Samarthya Bumi” exhibition which is open to the public in the Yogyakarta Cultural Park (TBY) Exhibition Gallery.
This event would not have been possible without the support of the university and various parties, namely PT. Astra Honda Motor, Pupuk Indonesia, Avoskin Beauty, PT Samudera Indonesia Logistics, Explora Digital Printing, and Implora. The hope is that the competition will become a forum for academic units to work together and establish partnerships in pursuing various issues in society. The 2024 UGM Ajisaka Festival is also a form of UGM’s implementation and commitment to Sustainable Development Goals (TPB) 4 (Quality Education) and 13 (Tackling Climate Change), so does 17 (Partnership for the Goals).